God Showed Up

Let me just say that our mission team from Grangerland, TX has been more than a blessing to us. They have loved us, served us, and have a genuine love for the people of Medicine Hat.

We started our day off yesterday at the Tim Horton's by our house at 9:00 am. There was an older couple that were very interested in our missionaries, and they wanted information on our brand new church. They never heard the Gospel before. Then we went and prayer walked Crescent Heights, a newer subdivision on the north side of the river, and came back to our place for lunch.

My wife can cook and we had a great lunch, then we went on a short walk (about 2 hours) down part of the trail system by our house. We even got pictures of some of the mission team standing on the snow covered river bank right by the South Saskatchewan River. It was good, and they loved it.

Everybody we have been talking to says that there is nothing for our young people in Medicine Hat, or at least nothing centrally localized. As we got back from our walk there came a group of about 8 youth walking right passed my house. As I talked with them, they were telling me that there is nothing for them here especially in the summer time that is cost effective for them. I asked them if they would be open to doing some of the rec stuff we did at preteen camp, and as I described it, their eyes bugged out they all said they would be there. I told them why I want to do this and all of them minus one were Christians that don't go to church and whose parents would be very interested in a Bible study also. I told the one who didn't believe in God to tell me about the god he didn't believe in and I let him know that I probably didn't believe in him either. It totally stumped him and it sounds like he is open for a Bible study too. Most of them took brochures on the church.

Then I went to go and pick up some pizzas for supper and got to the restaurant about 15 minutes early I talked with two girls behind the counter. One was 17 and had a nose ring, a tongue ring, and a lip ring, and the other was a 15 year old blonde girl. I asked them the same question about the rec stuff we did a preteen camp, and they are all in on it. Then I told them why I would do that. Rosie, the 17 year old heard that Jesus Christ died for her sins only one time in her life, but has never gone to church. The 15 year old blonde girl has never heard that before and has never been to church. I got to share my testimony with both of them.

The pizza place is also part of a bar. It is now against the law to smoke in any building except your own home in Alberta, so there was a husband and wife outside having a cigarette at the pizza place and he was about half cut already at 5:00. I struck up a conversation with them. His name is Brian and hers is Judy. Brian was excited because he got to see his 19 year old son for the first time. Brian's son, Brian, just moved here from Houston. Cha Ching! There is a huge God thing type of connection there. We just moved back from Houston in August. I told Bryan to give his son our brochure and maybe we could get together sometime - especially if he needed to talk to somebody from Houston. It turns out that Brian (at the bar) accepted Jesus Christ a long time ago, but was never baptized and is looking to get back into church. I asked him if I could pray for him, and he asked me to pray that God would give him a better life. He was almost in tears and wants to come to Bible Study! I am still pretty pumped! Continue to pray for us today. This is the last full day we have our missionaries from Texas and we will miss them desperately. We will be going to Cypress Hills today and then prayer walking another town near by. Since I am the Church Planting Coordinator for the Medicine Hat area, one of my responsibilities is to facilitate another church plant in the area before the year is out. We will be prayer walking Elk Water on Hwy 3. Grangerland has committed to do for Elk Water what West Rome has done for Medicine Hat. That is to love the town and serve the town in order to share Jesus Christ with them. God is moving in Medicine Hat!